OT: Lions player accused verbally harassing UW Band

Didn't see this on here, but Lions Center Raiola has been accused of verbally harassing members of the UW marching band prior to the beginning of the game. I don't know much about him and I didn't see the game, did anyone hear anything about this?

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pretty much par for the course for the Lions as an organization. A bunch of wannabe thugs that have never won anything and never will. It starts from the top down with Schwartz and filters on through to guys like Suh and Raiola

Thanks for the input, but he is right. Schwartz coaches undisciplined and he has had plenty of time to correct it. That will never will a championship over the fundamental teams in the NFL. Their penalties alone have lost quite a few games.

The Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens had more personal fouls last year than any other team in the NFL and it wasn't even close.

I'm not saying that the Lions are going to win the Super Bowl, but the whole penalty thing is overblown.

Do you know who has been the least penalized team in the NFL this year?

The Jacksonville Jaguars.

Last year the Lions were ranked 11th fewest in penalty yards. They were one of the least penalized teams in the league.

The amazingly disciplined and just all around great from the top down Packers had the second most penalty yards. The Colts had the most. Both of them were playoff teams.

Peyton Manning's Broncos and Tom Brady's Patriots, with their amazing coaches, their tremendous discipline, and their unrivaled leadership, also had far more penalty yards than the Lions did last year.

It's not total penalties, it's the type of penalties and the timeliness of them. It's the sheer stupidity in addressing certain issues and the lack of adjustments to gameplans. Make excuses if you want, but this team could be better in different hands.

I hate all the bashing on here of my favorite NFL team. Yes they have some players who make some dumb decisions on and off the field, but how about instead of saying "SAME OLD LOINS LOL" just shut up and quit bashing the team. It's fucking annoying.

He stated, and I quote, "pretty much par for the course for the Lions as an organization. A bunch of wannabe thugs that have never won anything and never will. It starts from the top down with Schwartz and filters on through to guys like Suh and Raiola."

Is not a wannabe thug. He is just not a very good head football coach who has trouble motivating his players. He does not convey a buck stops here attitude and consequently his pkayers don't take accoubtability for their conduct on or off the field. He is at best a "meh" coach. He needs a big year or he is history. He may be a guy who lands back at a solid to elite coordinator position. Call it a clique but he just does not have that "it."

3-2, tied for the lead in the division and just lost a game against one of the best organizations in football with the most valuable player in the league out and came up just short in a game at Arizona. Let's not forget they have three relatively easy wins over playoff teams from last year. But man, he's a terrible coach. He led the team to their first playoff birth this millenium. What a scrub!

Seriously, everyone is a bunch of ungrateful assholes and it makes me not want to come around the Board posts that often.

and most of the others players are such thugs. Oh, wait, they're not. You obviously are a Buckeye because no UM fan could be so fucking stupid as to label entire franchise based off the actions of three players.

I have to reply again, because I get so sick of the media spin that plays a huge role in tagging the Lions with this BS.

Let's look at everyone's model franchse, the New England Patriots...

Rodney Harrison was considered far and away the dirtiest player in the league for a long time and was practically celebrated for his hard nosed play.

They drafted Brandon Merriweather, who started a fight and stomped on an opposing player during a game. He was also involved in a shooting incident where he was shot at and returned fire on the shooters.

Aquib Talib got into a fist fight with a teammate, beat up a taxi cab driver, pulled a gun on his sister's boyfriend and shot at him.

Alphonso Dennard beat up a police officer and was arrested for a DUI while on probation for beating up said police officer.

Dante Stallworth killed a guy while driving drunk, and the Pats brought him in.

Corey Dillon was a serial wife beater and the Pats had no problem with bringing him in.

Albert Haynesworth, he also of the stomping, was brought in by the Pats. Haynesworth also paralyzed a guy in a car accident when he was driving over 100mph on the freeway. He also impregnated a stripper and failed to pay any child support, and punched another guy in a road rage incident.

Chad Ochocinco (need I say more?) was brought in.

How about Willie Andrews, with gun charges, assaulting his girlfriend, and pulling a gun on her.

Oh, and I haven't even brought up Aaron Hernandez yet.

I could go on and on because the Pats are one of the worst offenders when it comes to employing shitty people, but no one ever brings it up.

Winning gives you a pass, but the facts are still the facts. The Pats are a far dirtier organization than the Lions. Hell, it wasn't the Lions who were involved in one of the largest sports cheating scandals of the past decade (Spygate).

Nothing like comparing a model franchise to the laughing stock of the NFL since the 50s. At some point you get some leeway in making "questionable" decisions when you establish success, and speaking of overblown: spygate.

That just shows you are trolling with no facts and saying inflammatory shit cause you don't like the Lions. Congrats, we get it.
Also, saying Patriots and model franchise in 2013 is about the funniest GD thing I've heard In a long time. You do realize one of their top players is locked up without bail and about to go on trial for 3 murders, right? Way to stay current with your meme's.

For the last Nebraska vs Michigan game in the big house I saw him yelling at a group of Michigan fans from the sidelines for the better part of the game. He seemed like a real asshole, but then again I'm sure he was probably yelling back at assholes.

He's been fined for alteractions with fans before. Doesn't surprise me sadly. Before any comments about Schwartz and the lack of discipline, some his incidents were pre-Schwartz but it's not like he's does much to reign his players in.

He has been on the Lions for over a decade and is one of the few players over that stretch of time who has been proud to suit up in the Honolulu Blue. He's been undersized and an underdog throughout his career and that massive chip on his shoulder has manifested itself in many ways over the years. One of those ways is his complete disdain for douche bag "fans" and their shitty "LOLIONS!" comments.

This is going to come down to a they said-he said sort of deal, and obviously as the professional athlete in this scenario he's going to lose almost every time, particularly when the other side are a bunch of college kids.

He shouldn't have been mean to them, even assuming they were heckling the Lions.

However, that doesn't mean the guy is a classes thug, a douche bag, or a terrible human being.

The flipside is that just because he is a tough competitor and plays hard for his team, it doesn't mean that he's not a douche bag and a terrible human being. I would certainly think that if he is getting into a yelling match with college kids at his age and saying the things he (allegedly) said, he is a bit immature, at least.

He's almost the reciprocal of Suh, who plays like a complete moron at times, but then seems to be a good guy off the field.

Except for the other thing. That hurts the most. But the lack of respect hurts the second most.

I surprised anyone could give Raiola a pass for homophobic and mysogynisit slurs. This is beyond a he said/she said situation when there are several witnesses to raiola acting like a buffoon on the sideline.

When there are one or two witnesses there is a question. But to have several witnesses from outside the band, I think I am willing to take the Wisconsin band's side for the first time in history (especially knowing the history between the UW band and Michigan). This is not Raiola's first incident either.

Just part of Raiola's ignorant, jackass MO. He is a pro bowl lineman. It is time he starts acting like a professional and not like a hick from the backwoods of Nebraska.

I don't twist things around to fit anything. I am a scientist and a teacher and the only thing I care about are facts. I am just surprised anyone can support raiola anymore, when we have such high character guys like Bush, megatron, and Delmas on the team.

You do have a point about how the lions get blown out of proportion when compared to the Pats.

He yelled at a couple of unruly fans and flicked them off. It astounds me that fans can throw crap in the stands and yell at guys and (typically) get away with it, but a player yells back or flips someone off and he gets hit with pretty substantial fines. Spectators should be able to voice their displeasure with a performance without making asses of themselves, and the refrain that "they pay the ticket, they can do what they want" and "he should be a professional" rings hollow to me, considering you'd be escored from most premises for behavior 1/10th as idiotic as you see at professional sports contests.